Tom, Jovi, and I walked around to a few agencies on the busy street where our hostel was as well as restaurants with the local (and boring) cuisine and venders with typical Bolivian souvenirs; clothing made of llama and alpaca wool and colorful indigenous accessories. After price comparing a few places we settled on the agency that had the happiest person who genuinely seemed to care about giving us a good time on our Islas Flotantes tour. One thing that our crew has noticed is that Bolivians are far less friendly as Ecuadorians and Peruvians who come out on top for being the nicest, friendliest, and most willing to help nationality. For example, I had exactly five Bolivianos in my pocket and wanted to buy some crackers for my upset tummy. I stopped at a convenient store, picked up a package of plain crackers, and asked how much they were. The middle aged Bolivian man told me seven. I looked at the coin in my hand and regrettably reported my lacking amount and asked what I could buy with five Bolivianos. The man became angry and raised his voice telling me that nothing costs five Bolivianos. I looked down at the pack of gum, picked it up and said 'even this?' The man flew his arms in the air and shouted at me again the same response as before as he walked away from me and left me by myself. I shouted back to him to have a nice day and walked out not even wanting to buy crackers anymore. I couldn't believe he didn't want to sell me anything but we've noticed that that's common behavior from Bolivians towards gringos. Anywho- in searching for our Islas tour, we knew that we wanted to see both of the main islands; Isla de la Luna and Isla del Sol which would most likely entail us having to spend the night on one of the islands because of the time it takes to travel by boat from island to island. Isla de la Luna (Island of the Moon) has one hostel but there is no electricity nor running water on the 100 person inhabited island where the locals try eagerly to sell their goods, and sometimes push to the point of annoyance until the tourists purchase souvenirs. We decided that with the information provided to us in terms of needing two days for both islands that a private tour would be best and would get us back to Copacabana by 4pm in order to retrieve our baggage at a reasonable time so we could catch the bus to La Paz- the capital of Bolivia at an even higher altitude than Copacabana. We were given a price of 900 Bolivianos ($130) for the tour which we thought was pretty expensive. Jovi didn't want to pay more than the equivalent of $100 which would include transportation to each of the islands (but not the return to base in Copa), a traditional Andean lunch on the small island, one night in a hostel with hot water (not always standard), dinner, then breakfast the following morning. We complained about high prices and we got the agency to drop it to 800. We still had our eye on 700 so we stuck with our stubbornness. Amelia, the young woman selling us our packages and discussing prices with another sales rep told us that she couldn't drop the price anymore and that 800 for three people for everything that was included was a very fair price. Wait a second. Eight hundred for all of us? This whole time we thought it was 800 Bolivianos per person! What a deal!! That came to $38 per person! When we realized what the true cost was, we reacted with amazement and thrill for such a great price. We shouldn't have reacted that way because suddenly the sales reps conveniently 'forgot' separate prices (like the charge for the private boat transportation and the private guides on both islands) that they 'didn't include' before and our price started going back up. Still we were going to pay pennies for this amazing outing so we didn't argue about the final price of 1,000 Bolivianos and they threw in an artesenial demonstration with an opportunity to make something- cool!
We woke up Friday morning and made it to the agency right on time at 8am for an 8:30am departure. We took the 1.5 hour boat ride on Lake Titicaca to the floating islands. We first arrived at La Isla del Sol and dropped off the first group of passengers only visiting the big island. We took another hour ride to the small island on the gorgeous blue water and stared in amazement at the uninhabited islands around us and the snow-capped mountain tops in the distance which rose above the clouds. I had to remember to breathe steadily because the altitude was really affecting me. We arrived at the small island- Isla de la Luna and met up with our guide whose name I couldn't pronounce and he showed us around the ruins and the temples. Our guide didn't speak English so every once in a while I would do some translating for Tom and Jovi who could only understand about 25% of the guide's explanations. We knew this ahead of time and agreed to supporting a local who actually lives on the island. At one of the temples, we were bombarded by five indigenous woman holding hand-made trinkets shoving them in our faces saying 'compra compra' which means 'buy, buy.' These women have no shame. It's their goal, and ultimately their responsibility to make money for their families no matter what it takes nor how much they bother tourists and make them feel uncomfortable. I broke down and paid 50 Bolivianos for a handmade belt of sheep wool. It looks like a giant friendship bracelet. I tried on belt after belt and was disappointed that they were all too small. Each woman was shoving a belt in my face telling me to try theirs on hoping we'd find the slipper that fit. The pattern I really liked was too small and the owner called me fat. After I bought a belt from one of the less obnoxious women, I asked for a picture with all the ladies. The one who called me fat was so bitter that I didn't buy her belt that she refused to be in my picture!
Lunchtime quickly approached us and we feasted on trout from the lake, hard boiled eggs, habas (a large, gas-producing bean indigenous to the region and grown on the island), boiled corn on the cob, boiled potatoes, fried eggs, and juice made from quinoa. Everything had been cultivated and or gathered from the island. We shared our lunch with the guide as we sat on chairs made from tree stumps and ate on a wooden table carved from a tree from the island. While we looked touristy, everything felt authentic. After lunch we slowly hiked up to the top of the island which is actually a mountain whose base was drowned by what is now known as Lake Titicaca so that it now comes across as an island. Our guide plowed ahead of us with his lungs of steel as we felt our asses getting kicked by the elevation. The difficult and steep climb was worth every painful breath because the views at the top were indescribably beautiful. We rested at the top and snapped some pictures before hiking down the other side and hopping into our private boat to make it to the big island. We arrived at the north side of the island at 4pm and were greeted by an eleven year old girl who is the daughter of the hostel owners where the travel agency had made arrangements to stay. She showed us to our room, then where the restaurant was where we were dine at our convenience. We rested in the afternoon and I sat with Jovi on the beach of the lake which could pass for a tropical ocean and watched the sunset as Jovi meditated. While Jovi sat in silence and concentrated on her yoga ritual, I observed the scenery and couldn't help but daydream about going home and running into my parents' arms as I greet them at the airport on May 4th. I shed a few tears which were quickly dried by the wind and my laughter as I saw a pink pig trot by on the beach! Jovi finished up and we fetched Tom to go to dinner. We sat down in the tiny restaurant where we could see into the kitchen the head chefs- husband and wife. They cooked us the most delicious meal I had had up to that point. Chicken soup with noodles, perfect for my lingering cold, and pan grilled trout. Everything was so tasty and I made sure to tell man who initially greeted us in a rude manner. Just because someone is rude to me, possibly even unintentionally, it doesn't mean I have to treat them the same so I decided to spread some love, smiles, and peace. I got a smile out of the man and I think I made his week. We thanked the couple, stopped at a small convenient store to buy water for the next day and Tom picked up a 15 Boliviano ($2.20) bottle of rum and a box of apple juice which turned out to be a mixture of apple juice and soy milk- weird. Tom and Jovi drank some rum while I sat with them and a blanket up on the roof and we watched the stars. We had an early night as we were exhausted and needed to be ready to meet our next tour guide, Juan at 8am for breakfast.
In the morning we dined on the roof with sliced bananas, bread rolls with strawberry jam, a scrambled egg, and tea/coffee. When we finished, Juan took us to the Isla del Sol museum where we saw archeological artifacts from former tribes that had been found at the bottom of the lake providing evidence that the lake did not exist 2,500 years ago. After visiting the one-room museum, we went to watch the artesenial women construct a tapestry. We entered their living quarters and I heard some familiar squeaking sounds. Inside one of the women's rooms where she slept was a cage with six guinea pigs! I asked to see them and I was welcomed into the woman's room to see the future meals of the locals once fed enough to maximize plumpness. It made me miss Boris (and Bruno, may he rest in peace), my cuddly pet piggy back home. We were made to feel awkward once again with the woman waiting for us to buy something and we refrained, knowing that we would be able to buy all the chachkees we could (and couldn't) fit into our luggage/backpacks. After enough unbearable discomfort, we were escorted to our next location without having had the opportunity to make something artesianal- rip off! We then began our hike up to the top of the island. On the way we saw donkeys, llamas and pigs (oh my) and stopped every five or so minutes to take pictures of the gradually more and more beautiful scenery. We reached the highest point above the lake which is already 3,812 meters above sea level and I was breathless in more than one way. We took some 'on top of the world' pictures and climbed down the other side of the island to catch our nearly three hour boat ride back to Copacabana. The trip back was peaceful and serene and we took naps under the sun (with sunscreen). We even chatted with two American girls- one from Alaska and the other from Idaho, about the pricey visa to enter Bolivia! Upon arriving in town, we retrieved some things from our bags in the agency's office and grabbed dinner before our 6:30pm three hour bus ride to La Paz. Upon boarding our bus, Tom couldn't find his ipod after digging through the two possible bags it could have been in, he sprinted to our hostel where we had checked out over ten hours prior to see if by any chance it had been recovered from his room. He came back, ipod in hand which had been given to the owner's son as a present, and the battery had been exhausted. When Tom finally charged his ipod, he found that the little boy had some how changed the language to Japanese! My aisle seat on the bus that seemed like it was made for midgets was not only uncomfortable, but the fat man next to me had his arms folded the entire time which overlapped 1/4 of the way onto my body. I distracted myself by listening to my ipod and after two hours, the bus stopped and the fat man asked to get off. Everyone but six passengers exited the bus (including us three) and I noticed that we were at a body of water. The bus's engine turned back on and we began driving forward towards what I'm pretty sure was Lake Titicaca. We then drove onto a wooden ferry and proceeded to cross the Lake on a dodgy looking floating wooden raft, inside a bus! We kept looking at each other asking what the hell was going on and opening the windows next to our seats in case we started to sink and we needed to exit the bus via the windows to swim a shore. Luckily we didn't drown and we made it to the other shore just fine. It turns out that keeping people on the bus is too heavy for the floating device and it costs 1.50 Bolivianos to cross the Lake on a speedboat. Not only did we have a free ride, we left with a sweet story. The three hour bus ride turned into four when we were finally dropped off at 'the bus station' which was really just a sidewalk in the Cemetery district of La Paz- home to four million people. We made it to the first decent-sounding hostel that Jovi found in her travel book but it was significantly more expensive than what we knew we could find. The following two hostels we checked out (from recommendations of the previously denied hostel) were full to capacity. Fourth time's a charm because we were welcomed with warm smiles and checked in promptly. I found myself completely surrounded by Israelis. Turns out we checked into a predominantly Israeli hostel which was fine with me, and i'm sure just as fine with the attractive bundles of recent Israeli soldiers- yum! We couldn't find an open restaurant at 11:30pm on a Friday so we ended up with street food- fried egg sandwich with onions, tomato, mayo, and aji which is a hot pepper condiment. We went straight to bed and woke up a 9am to check out of the Israeli hostel and so we could check into a better hostel that we had visited beforehand that was full. We were guaranteed a room in the morning. After settling in, Jovi decided to do her morning meditation so Tom and I went in search of a patch with Bolivia's flag on it for Tom to add to his guitar strap. While in the shop with the patches, I tried on a jacket because it's freezing here and I only had a sweater. The jacket was a medium, as were the rest of the jackets in the man's homely shop and I let him know that it didn't fit because I am 'un poquito gordita' which means 'i am a little fat'- a term latin americans use loosely. The man responded with 'si' and Tom and I laughed hysterically that the man agreed! Too funny. Tom and I returned to our new hostel which is also not only filled Israelis, most of the doors to the rooms have mezuzahs! The three of us went to lunch and wandered into a Thai restaurant that also has Japanese and Indian food. Lunch was so good, contrary to traditional Bolivian food which we were warned about. For around $4 I got chicken coconut soup, a salad with homemade herbal dressing, hot green tea, and chicken masala, a traditional Indian dish. After paying our bill we walked over to the Mercado de las Brujas (witch's market) in search of cheap goodies! On the way to the market, a young artesian stopped us on the street showing us her jewelry but nothing really caught my eye. After we declined all of her many offers and began to part ways, I asked if she had any artisan friends who knew how to do dreadlocks because I decided to have a few more put in, gradually working on my process. Juliana, the Brasilian who has been living in Bolivia for 2.5 years knows! She said she would charge 30 (just over $4)Bolivianos per dread to do my hair tomorrow which was my free day while Jovi and Tom went on an intense mountain bike tour- something I can't physically do because of my semi-recent back surgery although a less intense ride would have been awesome. Because Tom is a cyclist, he wanted to do something challenging which I totally understood. Juliana was low on cash and said that she would only charge me 20 Bolivianos per hand-put-together dreadlock if I did it today (Saturday) because she was short on cash and needed to feed her two kids- daughter of six years and son 1 year, 3 months. How the hell could I say no to that!? I parted ways with Tom and Jovi who went to the Witch's Market to do their shopping for presents for friends and family and I went with Juliana to make some additions to my already 3/4 dreadlocked hair. Juliana and I had a marvelous time chatting and getting to know each other and after a few hours, she was finished! I got to meet her adorable, well-behaved children and their father, Luis who is Argentinian. I watched Luis hand bend silver around precious stones for the work that they sell together to support their family. As a parting gift, Juliana gave me a single feather earring that I was eyeing earlier when we first met in the street. It's not really my style, but it'll make a good gift. I met back up with the other 2/3 of my trio and we went to an arabic restaurant for dinner and got a sampler with falafel, kibneh, hummus, babganoush, spinach empanadas, skewers of both chicken and beef, tabuleh, some kind of ground beef sausage, and pita. We also got a pitcher of fresh lemonade, perfectly sweet and sour and enjoyed a delicious dinner! We walked around for a bit after dinner and bought some water and toilet paper (oh yea- you have to bring your own paper and soap to all bathrooms in Bolivia, both public and private!). I was exhausted and went to bed at 11pm to be woken up several times from the loud music playing from all sides of the hostel. I think the music was finally turned off at 4am but the shouting continued from the drunks who decided to go crazy Saturday night. Tom and Jovi woke up at 8am to prepare for their bike adventure and I chose to spend the day writing. Two hours into journaling, Juliana and her two kids came into the hostel to visit me and to eat lunch in the public restaurant called El Lobo- The Wolf. I sat and had lunch with my new friends and was amazed that both of her children ate the asparagus soup and that her six year old finished her plate of food. I had full conversations in Spanish for the first time with a child and it was a little bit intimidating! Juliana and the kids left as the little one was getting fussy and I laid down for a nap. Tomorrow night we'll probably catch a twelve hour bus ride south to Salar de Uyuni. I'm counting down the days until my flight...
